Upstate University Hospital offers the region’s only Level 1 trauma center and provides certification and continuing medical education programs to more than 700 EMS professionals annually.

Upstate hosted one of the largest Emergency Medical Services training efforts undertaken by the hospital outside of Onondaga County in May with a training day in Auburn, in Cayuga County.

“Presenting a comprehensive EMS training program where first responders live is essential to ensuring all who arrive first on the scene of an accident, have the most advanced training possible,” said Doug Sandbrook, director of Upstate’s paramedic program. He said additional educational programming is being considered for other outlying communities and that the use of teleconferencing is being considered.

“As the region’s only academic medical center, we are responding to the needs of the region to ensure that individuals throughout Central New York have the very best in care when first responders arrive on the scene,” said Dr. Derek Cooney, MD, director of Upstate’s Fellowship Program for EMS and Disaster Medicine.

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Upstate has consolidated several specialty services into the building at 550 Harrison St., now called Upstate Specialty Services.

Medical toxicology consults are available through Upstate for patients with adverse health effects due to medications, occupational or environmental toxins, or biological agents. Dr. Ross Sullivan, MD is the medical director of medical toxicology, recognized as a medical subspecialty by the American Board of Medical Specialties. Reach a toxicologist through the Poison Control Center at 315-476-4766.

Medical toxicologists are involved in the comprehensive high level care of people who come into contact with drugs, substances or other agents that pose a treat to their well being. They can assist with diagnosis, management and prevention.

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Samaritan Medical Center collaborated with Upstate for help reviving the neurosurgery service that ended more than a year ago with the departure of two neurosurgeons from Watertown. Samaritan purchased a magnetic imaging center and entered into an agreement for physician staffing through Upstate and Neurosurgical Associates of Central New York, based in Syracuse.

The office is located at 629 Washington. St., about a block from the main hospital. The practice specializes in brain tumors, spine disorders, radiosurgery, neurovascular and pituitary disorders and pediatric, general and functional neurosurgery.

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Upstate’s Wound Care Team.

The Wound Care Center at Upstate University Hospital’s Community Campus has merged with the Downtown Campus, so that all necessary services can be provided at one location. The patients have access to physicians and nurses trained in problem wound management including venous stasis ulcers, diabetic foot ulcers, pressure ulcers, arterial insufficiency ulcers, and other atypical wounds.

The American Cancer Society gave Upstate an “A” for implementation of a 100 percent tobacco-free campus policy. Upstate is one of 48 colleges and universities statewide to receive this honor.

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A comprehensive midwifery service now operates on Upstate University Hospital’s Community Campus, offering both obstetrical and gynecological care. The office is staffed by director of the Upstate Midwifery Program, Heather Shannon and Lesli Warren, both nationally accredited certified nurse midwives. Dr. Brian Thompson, MD is medical director of the program.

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General and trauma surgeon Dr. Robert Cooney, MD, chair of the Department of Surgery, is the new president of the United States Shock Society. Cooney will serve through June 2014 for the society, whose mission is to promote clinically relevant research on – and mentor the next generation of investigators in — trauma, shock and sepsis.

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Dr. Ann Botash, MD, was accepted to the June 2013 Harvard Macy Institute Leading Innovations in Health Care and Education, a week-long leadership program in Cambridge, MA, designed to assist in developing strategies for educational change.

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The National Society of Academic Emergency Medicine awarded Dr. Paul Ko, MD the Clerkship Director of Emergency Medicine 1013 Young Educator of the Year award at the society’s annual meeting in May.

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Dr. Marvin Heyboer III, MD is a founding board member of the American Board of Wound Medicine and Surgery, and he is a member of the Education Committee of the American College of Clinical Wound Specialists. Heyboer also gave several presentations at the college’s Latin America Initiative in Quito, Ecuador in May.